Bank Danamon Indonesia has announced that, in partnership with
Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia, the bank will be offering new
insurance and wealth management products.
The bancassurance deal, which is set to run for ten years, is a
follow up of a partnership agreement between the two companies in
October 2011. The agreement was to grow bancassurance in Indonesia, and
has now come into effect a little under a year later.
Speaking about the new partnership, Alan Merten, the CEO and
President of Manulife Indonesia was quoted as saying: “I am very pleased
that the partnership between Danamon and Manulife is now officially
launched! This is another significant step Manulife is taking towards
realizing our vision to provide strong, reliable, trustworthy, and
forward-thinking solutions to our customer’s most significant financial
decisions.”
Manulife Indonesia is a joint-venture between Manulife Financial, and
PT Tirta Dhana Nugraha, however Manulife Financial owns an overwhelming
95% of the company. The partnerships marks Manulife Indonesia’s 13th bancassurance agreement with Indonesian banks, with Danamon joining the likes of ANZ, HSBC and CitiBank.
Under this new deal with Danamon, Manulife Indonesia will offer seven
products to the bank’s customers. The products will be available at
Danamon’s 500+ retail branches across Indonesia, and for the initial
transition, Manulife Indonesia have provided 250 specialists and staff
to provide advice to customers.
This deal comes as no surprise due to Indonesia’s extremely low
insurance market penetration. Henry Ho, Danamon’s President Director,
acknowledged the potential Indonesia’s market has: “Many people still
don’t have insurance. This is a huge opportunity. One way to drive
growth [in fee income] is through bank assurance.”
Danamon has been pursuing bancassurance deals in an effort to “meet
our promise in providing Life Time Financial Support through wide range
banking product including Insurance and Wealth Management” according to
Michellina Triwardhany, Danamon’s Director for Consumer Banking.
Following this latest agreement, the bank now boasts two Bancassurance
deals. In 2006, Danamon signed a deal with Allianz Life Indonesia. The
deal resulted in Allianz providing three bancassurance products to
Danamon’s customers.
Speaking about Danamon’s agreement with Manulife Indonesia, Ho said
the deal was based “on our [Danamon & Manulife] mutual intention to
bring the benefits of world standard insurance and wealth management
expertise to a much wider base of customers.”
Manulife Indonesia had a good year in 2011, winning several awards
including the Best Life Insurance Company in 2011 in Indonesia from the
ABAI as well as a “Very Good” rating for the 6th time from
infobank magazine. Combined with Danamon’s equally impressive
credentials, including being crowned the Indonesian Bank Loyalty
Champion, this new partnership should help Manulife achieve its goal of
increasing its premiums by up to 20% throughout this year.